What is the Bond Order of CO Molecule?

Bond Order of CO Molecule

Bond order is defined as the difference between the number of bonds and anti-bonds. For example, the bond number of diatomic nitrogen is three. It indicates the stability of a bond. The definition of bond order in molecular orbital theory is half the difference between the number of bonding electrons and the number of antibonding electrons. The concept of bond order is used in molecular dynamics and bond order potentials.

Solution

The bond order of CO is three. The bond order of a molecule is a measure of the number of chemical bonds between a pair of atoms. The carbon atom and the oxygen atom combine to create a double bond in carbon monoxide (CO). The σ bonding, σ antibonding, and π bonding molecular orbitals are all included in the CO molecular orbital diagram. The atomic orbitals that overlap along the internuclear axis produce the σ bonding and σ antibonding orbitals, but the p orbitals that overlap sideways produce the π bonding orbital.

The molecular orbital theory can be used to predict bond order. According to molecular orbital theory, bond order is equal to half of the difference between the number of electrons involved in bonding and antibonding.

Bond order = [Bonding Electrons – Antibonding Electrons]/2

The molecular orbital electronic arrangement of CO molecule is,

σ1s² σ^*1s² σ2s² σ^*2s² π2p_x²=π2p_y² σ2p_z²

Here, number of bonding electrons = 10 and number of antibonding electrons = 4

Therefore, the bond order of CO molecule is calculated as;

B.O. = [10-4]/2 = 6/2 = 3

Hence, the bond order of CO molecule is 3.

Summary

What is the bond order of CO Molecule?

The bond order of CO is three. It can be derived from the molecular orbital theory. The bond order is a measure of the number of chemical bonds between two atoms in a molecule. It is calculated by taking the difference between the number of bonding electrons and the number of anti-bonding electrons, divided by 2. Generally, the higher the bond order, the strong the bond.

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